China adds international flights after relaxing Covid-19 controls

Six new Moscow and St Petersburg routes start operating this month, while more airlines will serve the Philippines, according to embassies
The announcements come as Beijing cuts quarantine in half and loosens visa rules

China's border reopening

Nick Yangin Beijing

Published: 8:13pm, 5 Jul 2022

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China has opened its doors to more international flights ahead of the summer travel season, with routes from Russia and the Philippines set to increase following the loosening of Covid-19 controls.

Commercial flights from Russia to China will be expanded this month from the current two flights per week to eight, according to a statement from the Chinese embassy in Moscow on Tuesday.

Of the six additional flights, three will resume former routes between Moscow and Beijing, Shenzhen and Chengdu, while three new services will operate between Moscow and Beijing, Moscow and Shanghai, and St Petersburg and Chengdu.

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This is the latest in a string of announcements by Chinese embassies and airlines about resuming or opening more international routes after the country relaxed its Covid-19 controls last week, cutting the length of quarantine in half for inbound arrivals.

The Chinese embassy in the Philippines said on June 28 that China would increase the number of airlines serving the Southeast Asian country.

China has adopted a zero-Covid strategy largely focused on stopping the virus at the border.

In March 2020, the Civil Aviation Administration of China restricted both foreign and Chinese carriers to just one weekly flight per country via a single route. This policy, known as the “five one” policy, caused more than 100 domestic and foreign airlines to cut international flights in and out of China.

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The rules began to relax earlier this year as China sought to fine-tune its Covid-19 control rules in response to the Omicron variant, which has a shorter incubation period.

Under last week’s policy change, the quarantine period for inbound travellers was halved to seven days in a government-arranged quarantine facility followed by three days of home health monitoring.

China’s civil aviation authorities announced last month that more international flights would be allowed as part of a larger plan to revive the economy.

Some foreign carriers resumed international flights to China last month. Air New Zealand started operating its weekly flight between Shanghai and Auckland in late June. Delta Air resumed flights between Shanghai and Seattle in June and will resume its route between Detroit and Shanghai this month.

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Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province in southwestern China, will resume six international flights in July, and at least seven more international flights will depart from Beijing.

China Southern Airlines announced plans to resume seven routes starting in June, with total weekly international flights rising to 48 from 36.

“These new flights showed that China has cancelled the ‘five one’ policy that has been implemented for two years to some extent,” said Xiong Wei, an expert with the Civil Aviation Resource Net website.

China has also relaxed visa restrictions in recent weeks. Foreigners seeking a Chinese employment visa are no longer required to provide a hard-to-obtain invitation letter issued by local authorities, and the country will resume issuing visas for visiting Chinese family members or foreigners with permanent residence in the mainland.